Peter Cowie has released another in his excellent Flashback series on the Criterion web site, this one about the composer Erik Nordgren (1913-1992), who worked with Ingmar Bergman. Peter’s latest flashback makes me realize that I never did post his previous one, about Richard Corliss, the Time Magazine film critic who left us in April.
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A few days ago I wrote a thing about how movies have traditionally favored the Confederacy and the Southern vision of Reconstruction in its depiction of the Civil War and its aftermath. I got a really smart letter from a reader who amplified my point by talking about the treatment of the Civil War with
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Today we take a look at movies that express the American soul. The idea is that there are films that are important or that become important because they express something essential in the American consciousness. It could be a movie that embodies the soul of its time. Or it could be a movie that says
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I’m afraid I’m too disoriented and upset by the death of Richard Corliss to do justice to his work or to my regard for him. But as this seems to be all I can think of today, I should at least say something to acknowledge his passing. We weren’t exactly pals, but we were acquaintances
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Peter Cowie, the British film scholar, has been doing a series of Flashback articles for the Criterion Collection’s web site in which he recalls the many great filmmakers he has known. His latest is on Francois Truffaut.
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The other day this question and answer appeared in the Ask Mick LaSalle column: Dear Mick: Why do you think that most people over 70 hate “Birdman”? Michael Smith, Menlo Park Dear Michael: I wouldn’t say that most people over 70 hate “Birdman.” Of the people who don’t like “Birdman,” however, a disproportionate number seem
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Today we consider sex scenes in cinema. Or great sex scenes in cinema. Or, to be more precise (though a little awkward), sex scenes in cinema that are great. That is to say, these are not necessarily scenes of great sex. Rather they are great scenes that happen to depict sex — good sex, bad
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Sooner or later, all publicity becomes good publicity, and so, on March 13, “Citizen Kane” will screen at Hearst Castle. The event will be part of the San Luis Obispo Film Festival — a very nice festival, by the way, that is growing every year — and admission will be $1,000. No, that’s not a
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